The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2023

Two Beauties

late 1700s-early 1800s

Kitao Shigemasa 北尾 重政

(Japanese, 1739–1819)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Hanging scroll, pillar painting: ink and color on silk

Painting only: 104.8 x 15.5 cm (41 1/4 x 6 1/8 in.); Including mounting: 175.3 x 32.7 cm (69 x 12 7/8 in.)

The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.274

Location

not on view

Description

Shigemasa favored using colors in broad opaque masses, as seen here in the beauties’ robes. He was a painter, printmaker, and poet, specializing in courtesan and actor prints. The format of this hanging scroll or "pillar painting" allows for the work to be hung on a pillar in a Japanese home.

Inscriptions

Inscription

artist's signature and seal, lower right corner. Poem inscribed on upper section of scroll.

Provenance
(David Newman, London, UK, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith)
?-1985
The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899-1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1985-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history

Visions of Japan: Prints and Paintings from Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 12, 2004-April 10, 2005).

A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.274